Madness

Squares finish at half an inch. 

Strawberry time!

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Embroidery finished!

Boy is this picture washed out!  Anyway, I figured I better finish the little bits of embroidery left before I lose this again.  I stitched on his face and the two pumpkin stems.  I better think about how to quilt this  so I can enjoy it this coming fall!

Berry time

I decided I need a mini strawberry quilt to go with my strawberry teapot.  The picture on the left shows a really small start.  I cut the fabric at 1 inch for that one.  I then cut the second one at 1.5 inches.  So I'll see how big these end up!

Found!

 I may be losing my mind a bit.  I found my Pumpkin Headed Scarecrow quilt that was missing.  Guess where it was?  It was quietly hanging on a hanger with my other Quilts In Progress.  And I had unpacked my zipper pouch that went with it because all I had left to stitch was the dern face.  *sigh* I despair of myself.  I'll post a pic here after I get the face stitched on.

At least I think this is the last of the MIA projects.  I think. . .

Updated block pics

 I haven't been keeping up with my block pictures.  I posted February's block but here are the rest:

This is April

This is January.

This is March.

This last one is the May block.  I cut it out Saturday and got up early this morning and stitched it together.

Why hexies?

 

I don't know why!  But I saw this mini charm pack and went to town this past weekend.  Have no idea what to do with them.  I'm short two hexies so I need to look around and see if they are stuck in my bag.  What to do what to do with them!

Niece socks

Completed May 7. 2025

Left sock is the Hermione pattern. Right socks is the Jeck pattern.

Two sides of the same sock

The yarn is Tofutsies which is a splitting blend of soy silk, superwash wool. Cotton and chitin. It is knit over 64 stitches in the Hermione pattern with my usual toe and heel. I found the pooling/flashing exasperating and tried several patterns trying to get it to stop. I am knitting the second sock in the Jeck pattern. I think my niece will be amused by the change in pattern.  I do not like this yarn both for the color issue as well as overall splittyness.

Feather and fan socks

Feather & Fan Socks by Judy Sumner from Socks, Socks, Socks 

Needle US 1 - 2.25 mm

 Yarn Austermann Step Colorway 18 Vulcan Dye lot 200206

Originally cast on 4/9/2017

April 20, 2017

I’ve just started the heel on sock #1. I should have gone up to a size 2 needle (which was my first impulse). The feather and fan pattern seems to really draw the knit fabric in. Also this yarn seems really thin to me. I wonder if it will bloom when I was it? It’s a little splitty but super soft. If the socks feel too tight for me I will either give them to my sister or my friend who gave me the yarn.

 

April 25, 2017

GRRRR. I was starting to reduce the gusset stitches when I thought I should try this sock on. Far too tight! So I ripped it completely out this morning on the way to work. I really enjoy this pattern so I should mind the reknit too much. As long as it fits!

2025

These socks were added to my 2025 bingo chart so I alternated working on these with the Girly Girl socks.  I'm not sure when I reknit the lace on the first sock.  These were in serious timeout! Basically I knit the lace portions at home and did the heel and foot on the go.  These were finished on April 18, 2025.

Girly Girl Socks

These socks have a long history.  I wanted to knit them for my sister since around the late 1990s but didn't think that I could handle the lace pattern.  In 2016 I said "Self, you have been knitting for nearly twenty years.  You can handle this pattern."

Well could I?

Girly Girl Socks by Robin Fouquette from Socks: A Spin-Off Special Publication for Knitters and Spinners 

Needle: US 1 - 2.25 mm

Yarn Brown Sheep Wildfoote Luxury Sock Colorway Kansas Sky, Dye lot 3

05-19-2016

CO with size 0 and 54 stitches. Knit about 10 rows and found it really didn’t fit over my heel-and broke a needle doing it! Started over with size 1 and 64 stitches. Knit 15 rows and began pattern. 

Then they went to timeout.

April 1, 2019

Actually I have 63 stitches on my needles. I’m knitting the heel 14 rows long (over 29 stitches/left 34 for instep). K16 then turn.

 At some point this sock went into severe timeout for several reasons, one of which was that I lost the second ball of yarn!  And it was discontinued!  I finally found an auction on Ebay in October 2020 and overpaid for a ball!  Yet still it sat.

I made a bingo chart of projects for 2025 and put these socks, and others, on it.  So after I finished my Anniversary socks for DH, I pulled these out and went to town.  Washed, blocked and dried on April 8, 2025.  I plan to give these to my sister immediately upon her arrival this summer and she better like them!

Snap tray

Woke up far too early this morning and made a snap tray for my niece.  She's off to Japan on Saturday and these trays are so handy when traveling. 

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More border work

I was felled by the rampant oak pollen this weekend but managed to sit quietly and stitch on the borders!  I'm starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Runners from the Shop Hop

I actually bought kits for these at two different shops during the All Texas Shop Hop.  I love the teapot fabric and the yellow roses just shined with the gold border fabric.  I'm trying to find the right buttons for the teapot one.  I need two and I found *one* perfect button in my stash.

Slow but steady progress

My this is a terrible photo!  Making progress on the second Girly Girl sock.

Well at least. . .

I got stuck in a traffic jam behind an accident for two hours . Fortunately I had my cross stitch with me. At least my borders met!!

Goal for the week

My goal for the week is to meet the borders as shown here. I really hope they meet or there will be language!  I really need to get this gingham border finished so I can go back to filling in the fun stuff in the blocks.

Socks!

I finished DH's Anniversary socks!  He is very pleased with them and is impressed by how they match.  I did not do this on purpose-it is totally the yarn!  Yarn was Supergarne Aktiv Sock yarn 4-ply superwash 100g/459yd Bergen #377-78. 

A little stitching

Red let me do a little boro inspired sashiko stitching on his denim jacket!  I love having a son that likes stitching!

February block

February block for the Saturday Sampler. I picked the wrong fabric at one point so I had to use my ooops kit.  I also managed to cut the dark blue points wrong so I had to hit the oooops kit again!

Some sewing

I cut and sewed on the stop border for the baby quilt.  I had planned to add a blue focus fabric border-wasn't sure on the width-but when I looked I had just enough blue left for the binding.  I'm going to do a slightly wider binding.  Quilt top is about 46 square which should fit nicely on some orange minky!

This next bit is in-progress.  It's the Parsonsfield QAL that Lori at Humble Quilts started in 2023.  I cannot find the darn fabric I bought from her expressly for this QAL so I started with some other fabric I had bought from her.  I also pulled a bunch from my Civil War stash.  Next up is a mess of four patches that are 2.5 square!

Anniversary

I'm knitting a pair of socks for DH.  Our 20th anniversary is coming up.  I'm trying to knit these without him noticing so my son started calling them Illicit socks!

Missing? Lost??

 I really hate it when I misplace a project.  I'm currently missing two.

The first is the Texas Lightning Cowl. I'm knitting it with Independence Wool Texas Tweed that I bought from Hill Country Weavers.  I started knitting it for my great-aunt but had to put it aside when I found out about her death. (edited to add: I found this knitting in my beach bag.  I have no idea when I took this project to the beach!)

The second project is Sunflowers and Scarecrows by Jan Patek.  The pattern appeared in Primitive Quilts and Projects but I think I bought a kit from Jan.  I decided to embroider all over the quilt top and I put it aside when I was having trouble getting my angle right on a stem.  I think I had it out last summer??? No idea where it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Turban for a friend

I knit this turban for a friend at work who is going thru the cancer ringer. The pattern is Lindy's Knitted Turban Chemo Hat.  I used my friend's preferred yarn Loops and Threads which is an acrylic yarn.  I would have preferred to use Plymouth Encore but my friend can't handle wool.   I changed up the pattern to worsted weight yarn on size 8 needles over 70 sts.  (Note to self: do the darn swatch, okay?) 4 stitches to the inch.

I wish I had used sport weight for this turban as I'm worried it will be too warm for my friend.  I really hope she likes it.  She's a beekeeper so that's why I used yellow and black.

Hot Mess!

I started these on Christmas Day.  I used Hot Mess yarn from Beach Bum Yarn on etsy.  Knit on size 1 needles with my usual sock recipe.  

I really enjoyed the NBK part of these socks.  So much so that I knit past where to start the heel on the second sock AND knit past where to start the toe on the second sock.  Ah well.

I'm working on getting my two timeout projects going and I need to start a pair of socks for DH.

First finish of 2025

I made some fingerless gloves or muffatees for my niece.  I used worsted weight Plymouth Encore.  This is my favorite yarn for things I know will get machine washed.  The yarn is mostly acrylic (75 % acrylic, 25% wool) but it is nice to knit.  Very squeezable.